Index card member and method of making



Oct. 23, 1934. B. G. RAND INDEX CARD MEMBER AND METHOD OF MAKING FiledAug. 24, 1951 I :11 a: mu". I: l

afc d 1 Ali $11 g l' h I l l I I Patented Oct. 23, 1934 PATENT OFFICINDEX CARD MEMBER AND METHOD OF MAKI Benjamin G. Rand, North Tonawanda,N. Y., assignor to Remington Rand Inc., Buffalo, N. Y.

Application August 24,

4 Claims.

. This invention relates to record members or 1 record member holdersfor card index files or the like and a method of treating said membersthat will facilitate hinging of the record members T without,.or inconjunction with, perforated zones.

Card index members for receiving index records or index cards aremounted in trays and in overlapping relation with each other in suchmanner that the lower edges of each member projects slightly from thepreceding overlapping upper member. Suitable lugs or strips are employedfor positioning the members in this internesting relation and theopposite end portions of these strips are adapted to slide in guideslots along the sides of the trays. In searching among files of thiskind it is necessary to bend the record member or record member holderin hinging relation transversely across its upper portion. Heretofore,it has been customary to perforate a zone across this portion of eachmember in order to facilitate the hinging operation. However, in recordmembers for holders composed of fiber material which has been glazed orwhich is stiff, considerable inconvenience has been experienced inmanipulating the hinging members.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide a record member or holderand to treat the hinging zone of the record member or holder in suchmanner that the glazing and stiffness at this 10- cation are so reducedas to be ineffective in resistingbending of the member. In accomplishingthis treatment the sheets of fiber of which the members or holders areconstructed are di- I rected between rollers, one of which has a grooveers which are rotated in the direction opposite.

to that in which the first-named rollers are rotated, and therebypressing the rib in an opposite direction from that in which it waspressed in the first rolling operation. Several rollers of this kind areemployed depending upon the degree of stiffness or glazing of the fibermaterial or upon the degree of limpness required at the hinging zone ofthe member. 1 Then the material is directed over several folding rollerswhich alternatelyfold the material in opposite directions andalternately flatten it. After the material has thus been treated, it isfabricated into card holders or record members.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may now be had tothe accompany- 1931, Serial No. 559,082

ing drawing forming a part of this specification, of which Fig. 1 is aplan of an index record member or holder in which the invention isembodied;

Fig. 2 is a cross section, on a larger scale, taken substantially alongthe line II-II of'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary diagrammatic plan of an apparatus for practicingthe method embodying the invention;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic eleva- 3 5 tion of the apparatusshown by Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan, on a larger scale, of a pair of rollersemployed in practicing the invention, the material being operated uponbeing shown in cross sections; and

Figs. 6, '7, 8, 9 and 10 are cross sections, taken substantially alongthe lines VI-VI, VII-VII, VIIIVIII, IX-IX and X-X, respectively, of Fig.3.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing an index record member or holder 19is shown which comprises a card holding portion 20, a marginal stripportion 21, and a supporting strip 22 adapted. to inter-fit with acorresponding part of an adjacent record member. End portions 23 of thebacking strip extend beyond the opposite edges of the record member andare adapted to slide in guides of 'a tray. Suitable transparent sheaths24forming a pocket, and slots 26, serve as means for facilitating themounting of the record member therein or the member 19' itself may serveto receive 1 record data written directly thereon. This kind ofarrangement is clearly shown in Patents No. 1,525,513, February 10, 1925and No. 1,539,206, May 26, 1926.

The upper portion of the member 19 has a hinging zone 27 connecting theportions 20 and 21 which is very flexible and may be hinged in eitherdirection without material resistance. Since the body portion of themember 19 is somewhat resilient and stiff, special treatment of thehinging zone is proposed in order that searching in the files containingthese record members may be facilitated.

As best shown by Figs. 3 and 4 a sheet of fiber material 28 from whichrecord members, such as the member 19, are made, is directed through aguide 29 and thence between a plurality of pairs of driven rollers 32and 33. The material is trained alternately in opposite directions fromone roller 32 to the next succeeding roller 32 in such manner as todescribe a sinuous path, and the rollers 33 are arranged in staggeredrelation with respect to the rollers 32. It has been found convenient toarrange the rollers 32 in contiguous relation one above the other withtheir axes in substantially the same plane.

Each of the rollers 32 is provided with a groove 34 and each roller 33is provided with a rib 36 slightly smaller in size than the groove. Thegroove and rib of each pair of rollers are complementaland serve topress out a rib in the hinging zone 3'! of the fibrous material adjacentone edge thereof and corresponding to the zone 27 of the record member19. After the fibrous material has thus been provided with a rib pressedtherein the material is turned in its" direction of travel betweenthegroov 34 'and rib 36 of the next succeeding rollers thereby pressing thehinged zone outwardlyinoppositedirection. This alternate pressing out ofa rib-inthe fibrous material in opposite directions serves to dissipatethe original stiffness and glazing of the material.

After passing between the last pair of rollers 32 and 33, the material28 directed against a vertical folding roller 40 and thence to-a-hori-=-zontal roller-'42.

Thus, the rollers 40 and l2 serve; tofoldthe material upwardlyand thenin fiat laminated form as'shown by Figs; 6 and 7 respectively. Then thematerial is directed "through a flattening device 43 whichdisposes thesurface of the material in a common plane. This operation issubstantially repeated with the exception that the rollers 44 and 45serve to fold the edge adjacent the hinge zone 3'7 downwardly and flatagainst the body of the material as shown by Figs. 9 and 10 instead ofupwardly in the manner shown by'Figs. 6 and '7. The flattenneatness inthe assembly and operation of the file equipped with these card holders.In addition the hinging zone 27 as provided by this invention results intheproductionof card holders that will lay'back easily and freely in useand do not require manual holding in laid back position while entriesare madeon the records.

This invention, therefore, provides a card holder structure, togetherwith the method of manufacturing the hinging section by which relativelystiff sheet material may be used, and at the same time free andefficient operation of the card holders is secured in practicing theinvention.

Theseoperations may be performed upon record members which have beenperforated along the zone 27, although under ordinary conditions thetreatment described in this specification is suffi- -cient to provide anadequately flexible and nonresilient hinging zone.

*Although only one form of the invention has been shown and described indetail, it will be apparentto those skilled in the art that the inven-"tion is not so limited but that various changes may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope ofthe aping a narrow zone in'rib-like form in opposite directionsin asheet of record member material,

folding under roller pressure the portion of the material in said narrowzone alternately, and flattening out the-material-betwecn each foldingoperation.

3. Amethod of treating record members for cardindex files that comprisesrolling a sheet of material to forma pressed-out rib in a zone adjacentone edge of-the material, alternately pressing the materialin successivephases of operation to press-the zone in the rib-like form in oppositedirections, and foldingthe materialalong said zone.

4. A method of treating record members for card index files thatcomprises rolling a sheet of material to form a pressed-out rib in azone in succeeding phases of operation to press said zone in rib-likeform in opposite directions, folding the material along said zone inopposite directions, and flattening the material after each foldingoperation. v

BENJAMIN G. RAND.

